Astros outfielder George Springer’s recovery from a left quad strain hasn’t moved as quickly as expected. Speaking about his injury in some level of detail for the first time in a couple weeks, Springer said more than once Saturday that “not much has changed.”

“Just rehabbing,” said Springer, who hasn’t played a big league game since July 19. “I’ve kind of been at the same spot.”

The rookie slugger has to yet to attempt to run at 100 percent.

“I’m not up to that point yet,” Springer said.

Manager Bo Porter said there’s no timeline.

“He’s just not ready to move forward with explosive activity,” Porter said. “He’s been able to come out and you know go through a lot of progressions and ground balls and you know, controlled baseball activity. But he’s not ready to take it to that next level, where he’s able to do explosive activity and we’re just not going to push him at this time.

“We’ve tried to put a timeline to it, and each time we try to put a timeline to it, it just hasn’t come to fruition. So, at this point, I think we just go day-to-day and just see how he progresses.”

There’s no reason at this point to believe that Springer won’t be able to return at some point in September, but time is, of course, limited.

“I hope so,” Springer said when asked if he’d play again this season.

Said Porter when asked if Springer may not return. “It would be premature to make that prediction sitting here today.”

Entering Saturday, the Astros were 17-21 in the time Springer has been on the disabled list. Springer went out on a minor league rehab assignment with Low Class A Quad Cities Aug. 4-6 but suffered a setback.

As could be expected, he’s not enjoying his time away from the playing field.

“I think it’s just along the lines of, now you have to get healthy as fast as you can,” Springer said. “You can’t really rush an injury like this. You just have to stick to it and go slow and we’ll see.”

“It’s brutal. It’s not fun.”

Springer’s injury isn’t a matter of pain tolerance. The risk exists for him to worsen the injury if he attempts to plays on it.

“I don’t think it’s smart to play on an injury that’s already hurt just because I think you have a tendency to hurt it more,” Springer said.

Marwin Gonzalez scratched

In the original lineup on Saturday at shortstop, Marwin Gonzalez was scratched because of right hamstring discomfort. Gregorio Petit got the start at shortstop instead.

Gonzalez was bothered by the same hamstring in late July and received a platelet rich plasma injection to aid it.

“I think it’s just a one-day thing,” manager Bo Porter said. “I think he’s just a little bit tight. He’s been playing really well. It’s not something that we want to risk involving him any time moving forward. Just going to give him a day, let him get treatment and hopefully tomorrow he’s ready to go.”

Presley feels good after on-field hitting Friday

Outfielder Alex Presley (right oblique) remains on track to start a rehab assignment on Monday, manager Bo Porter said. Presley took batting practice on the field on Friday, although he said he hadn’t been told yet of his rehab assignment.

“Probably better at this point when I tried to do the same thing than the first go round,” said Presley, who had a rehab assignment with short season Tri-City cut short because of the oblique. “So that’s definitely encouraging. At this point, I have a better gauge of what feels right and what doesn’t after going through it the firs time. I think it’s in a good place as long as I don’t try to do too much.

“You haven’t hit in a while, you want to hit a lot.”

Presley said he still feels the oblique discomfort a little but “it’s very minimal.”

“If I tried to swing as hard as I could I don’t know that it’d be the smartest move,” he said.

Class AAA Oklahoma City is scheduled to play its last regular season game on Monday. They may be in the playoffs, however, which would afford extra games for Presley to play in. As a technicality, major league players need to be approved by the league office to play in a minor league playoff game so that teams don’t unfairly stack minor league teams with players who may not actually be hurt for the postseason.

Downs begins rehab

Lefty reliever Darin Downs began his minor league rehab assignment from his own right oblique strain on Friday with Class AA Corpus Christi. Downs allowed two hits and struck out three in one inning of work.

Grossman returns to lineup

Robbie Grossman returned to the Astros lineup batting leadoff as the left fielder and made a swift catch right away in the first inning Saturday against the Rangers. He missed two games after twisting his left ankle on Wednesday in a game against the A’s at Minute Maid Park.

“Good to go,” Presley said. “It’s a sprained ankle, so I’m just having to deal with it and go from there. (It feels) a lot better. I can actually have some mobility in it.”

Albers throws bullpen with time running short

Matt Albers (right shoulder tendinitis) threw a bullpen on Saturday and said Sunday he felt good and was scheduled to throw another this week. Both he and Jesse Crain (right shoulder) continue to work to return, but time is rapidly running out.